There was long time a debate, that Crucifixion could became jewish after 400 BC.
Believe me, when it's about Crucifixion, we know quiet well, that Roman Empire executed crucifixion as death penalty for rebellious slaves (Spartacus) and pirates in the mediterranean sea (mare nostrum).
When examining the plausibility of crucifixions in a culture, thou must consider both
- whether other historically documented crucifixions occurred previously,
- whether a cross (robust enough crucifixion of an adult man) for could be constructed from locally grown trees / woods[1],
or whether a tree's branches and trunk thickness inherently make several trees suitable for crucifixion. - where there is a synonym and words[2] for crux in the old word-tree in the language.
The same applies to gallows and hanging trees.
1 In my opinion, only palm trees and thistle bushes were native to Israel, ancient jews had access to Cedar wood. Ark of the Covenant was made from a cedar wood shrine.
Cedar wood almost completely blocks microwave and cell phone radiation in the high-frequency band
The Phoenicians cut down almost all of Lebanon's cedar trees to build their fleet of ships, thus creating early karstification of Lebanon.
2 crux, crucis latin is etymological origin for anglo-saxsonian and romanian languages, e.g. crucial, crusade, cross, croix, Krux, Kreuz ...
